Saturday, December 18, 2010

O Wisdom - Dec 17

The first of the great and very ancient "O antiphons" are sung today -- well sort of today: the traditions of the church are being obscured, but I will explain later.

The "O antiphons" refer to the 7 Antiphons used for each of the 7 Magnificats at Vespers (Evening pray) from December 17th to December 23. (I might be giving too much away to tell you why the Magnificat antiphon of the 24th is not included. ) The O Antiphons are part of the season of Advent. A kind of Holy week of Advent. The already beautiful and intricate offices of Advent become very unique for each day of Advent Holy Week. At least in the extraordinary form, four new antiphons are introduced for the 4 psalms of Lauds and the 4 minor hours, a fifth antiphon is used for the canticle of Laud.